MARCH 15, 2005

Ronaldo to get Brazilian A1 Grand Prix franchise

Real Madrid soccer star and Brazilian World Cup hero Ronaldo is a big fan of motor racing and it seems that he is going to front up with cash to run his own team in the new A1 Grand Prix series, which will kick off in September. The news was announced by Sheikh Maktoum during the latest presentation of an A1 franchise in Mexico City.

At the same time in Australia Alan Jones has been telling the media that A1 will be holding a race in Sydney. It is not clear whether the event will be a street race or whether it will be held at a permanent track, such as Eastern Creek, but the latter option seems to be the most likely given that the event will happen in November and there is not much time to do any major work downtown. The option might be a street race in the area around the Olympic Stadium where most of the road are new and the infrastructure would enable people to get to the venue easily. It should be remembered that in 2001 there were plan to hold an American Le Mans Series race on a 1.8-mile circuit looping around the Olympic Stadium in Homebush Bay. The plans called for the start-finish line at the front of the stadium with the pits being located on one side of the dual carriageway and the start straight on the other. The circuit then ran along the side of Olympic Plaza before turning sharply to the right and running between the stadium and the Aquatic Centre before turning right again and going down the street behind the stadium before looping right to emerge beside the water to a hairpin and then back to the stadium. The New South Wales Major Events company was behind the plan but it was shelved when time ran out. However Sydney would love to enjoy some of the glitter than Melbourne has attracted with its race in Albert Park.